Last October spent three days on the Navajo reservation. We had a native guide and one of those tour trucks, with the raised back part and no sides, just a bunch of bench seats, like a school bus?
Anyway, the only way to enter Monument Valley, off the public access roads, with with a native guide. Sammy took us all over the place!!! Some of the most amazing scenery is in the interior, we would drive up to great towering monuments of red stone and we could actually touch Petraglyphs that had been there for thousands of years.
Remember the scene where Indiana Jones jumps down into that buried temple with all the snakes at the bottom? The stone 'hole' that he jumped thru is in Monument Valley. The hotel that we stayed at is on Reservation land, and it's where John Wayne's movie Yellow Ribbon (I'm sure that's the right one) was filmed -- well, not the hotel itself, but right behind it they've preserved the cabin where he lived & worked as the commanding officer. I have absolutely no idea how on earth that man stood up in there!!!
Way into the interior, we were taken to meet an elderly Navajo woman, who was actually in Wayne's first movie, 'Stagecoach' when she was quite young. He's been gone for so long now and there was a living connection to him, right in front of us, showing us weaving and hair-dressing techniques. I know, sounds weird, right, but there's a certain way to fix their hair, pretty much an old way, now, but the end result is wow!
The manageress of the hotels cafe is white - beautiful, blonde, whole nine yards. Her husband is full-blooded Navajo. She's been fully accepted by his family, including the matriarch, as well as the rest of the tribe. They live on top of a mesa -- no water available naturally anywhere. Period. All their water they have to truck it in themselves -- drinking, cooking, flushing, the horses, etc.
The same day we left? they were expecting 300 school kids from LA county school district for an interactive experience at their ranch. She & her husband have created an 8-stop hands-on educational experience for kids -- weaving here, frybread making (you eat what you make), mud daubing, etc.
I'm so hoping they expand the program to include adults, because that's one experience I'll undertake in a heartbeat!!!!
I know all this because I ate alone on the upper level of the dining room -- I was usually reading -- and she came and sat with me one evening. The food was absolutely wonderful!!@!!
Since then a second hotel -- way, way way fancier than where we stayed (I much prefer the old ways) has opened - I think it's called The View, and it does have an awesome view out over the desert.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2010-07-22 08:34 pm (UTC)Anyway, the only way to enter Monument Valley, off the public access roads, with with a native guide. Sammy took us all over the place!!! Some of the most amazing scenery is in the interior, we would drive up to great towering monuments of red stone and we could actually touch Petraglyphs that had been there for thousands of years.
Remember the scene where Indiana Jones jumps down into that buried temple with all the snakes at the bottom? The stone 'hole' that he jumped thru is in Monument Valley. The hotel that we stayed at is on Reservation land, and it's where John Wayne's movie Yellow Ribbon (I'm sure that's the right one) was filmed -- well, not the hotel itself, but right behind it they've preserved the cabin where he lived & worked as the commanding officer. I have absolutely no idea how on earth that man stood up in there!!!
Way into the interior, we were taken to meet an elderly Navajo woman, who was actually in Wayne's first movie, 'Stagecoach' when she was quite young. He's been gone for so long now and there was a living connection to him, right in front of us, showing us weaving and hair-dressing techniques. I know, sounds weird, right, but there's a certain way to fix their hair, pretty much an old way, now, but the end result is wow!
The manageress of the hotels cafe is white - beautiful, blonde, whole nine yards. Her husband is full-blooded Navajo. She's been fully accepted by his family, including the matriarch, as well as the rest of the tribe. They live on top of a mesa -- no water available naturally anywhere. Period. All their water they have to truck it in themselves -- drinking, cooking, flushing, the horses, etc.
The same day we left? they were expecting 300 school kids from LA county school district for an interactive experience at their ranch. She & her husband have created an 8-stop hands-on educational experience for kids -- weaving here, frybread making (you eat what you make), mud daubing, etc.
I'm so hoping they expand the program to include adults, because that's one experience I'll undertake in a heartbeat!!!!
I know all this because I ate alone on the upper level of the dining room -- I was usually reading -- and she came and sat with me one evening. The food was absolutely wonderful!!@!!
Since then a second hotel -- way, way way fancier than where we stayed (I much prefer the old ways) has opened - I think it's called The View, and it does have an awesome view out over the desert.
Anyway, make sure you post some pix!!!!!